ACM Ubiquity Magazine

10/21/2026

"Programming Is a Real-Time Strategy (RTS) Game Now." Software development is moving away from writing code line by line. Developers now manage multiple coding agents across different parts of a codebase at once. But relying on AI for programming can lead to bigger issues. While these tools make individual tasks faster, recent data shows that teams are generating far more code without shipping significantly more working software. Managing several parallel agents also creates heavy context switching. Agents often produce changes that pass their own isolated tests, but break system contracts during integration. This article uses a real-time strategy model to address these challenges.

10/20/2026

"How to Avoid Empty and Misleading Explanations." https://buff.ly/x0qGBeo All expository writers and speakers are, by definition, "censors." This is because almost every text and speech starts with more material than makes it into the final draft—some things must be left out. The important thing is to be certain that everything included makes the fundamental ideas of the presentation clearer and more useful.

10/02/2026

Could modern computing technologies exist without natural resources?

Could modern computing technologies exist without natural resources? The evolution of thermal engineering from ice houses to commercial freezers to advanced cryogenics.

08/26/2026

Simple writing is more difficult (and more rewarding) than complex writing. It was this discovery that sent Phil Yaffe on a career path that turned out to be dramatically different from anything he had ever planned—or even conceived. Read more in "Communication Corner No. 78: Debunking the Myth of Complexity and Culture" https://buff.ly/Nax3uHT

08/19/2026

Nowadays, junior software developers face a paradox—GenAI. Young computer science students may be ill-equipped for current AI-driven realities. The pipeline that has historically produced senior software developers is under threat. Without deliberate intervention, the profession risks dismantling the very mechanism that produces its next generation of experts.

Dr. Germán H. Alférez explores this and more in "Preparing Junior Software Developers for the AI Era"
https://buff.ly/jPS0nVC

07/23/2026

Like many discoveries in science and technology, the battery derives from fundamental findings about the physical world made before the idea of the battery and its first practical realization were ever conceived.

"Extraordinary Ordinary Things" highlights the critical role of batteries in contemporary life, enabling technological advancements that redefine daily experiences. While batteries have existed since the 18th century, their importance surged with the rise of smartphones, which have transitioned from...

07/17/2026

How Poor Preparation Can Make a Speech Bad—and Good Preparation Can Make It Even Worse

In his latest "Communication Corner," Phil Yaffe ponders how failure to properly prepare will almost always lead to disaster, but why overpreparation can also be disastrous. https://buff.ly/islsFlZ

07/16/2026

"Ubiquity Symposium: Is AI Ready for Business?" by Alex Monaghan https://buff.ly/7R8n0Yg
The slow take-up of AI in business is partly due to GenAI being unsuitable for business processes where rules and regulations leave no margin for error and invention. The abilities of GenAI have been exaggerated, but businesses are beginning to understand AI better. Can AI successfully automate a wide range of tasks and processes, particularly when it is used to augment rather than replace human intelligence and experience?

07/02/2026

Fault-tolerant quantum computing has the potential to reliably execute complex calculations by overcoming the problems raised from the errors and noise inherent in quantum systems. This latest Ubiquity article from Thierry Bonhomme, Catherine Lambert, and Gérard Roucairol builds upon a 2025 report issued by the National Academy of Technologies of France. https://ubiquity.acm.org/article.cfm?id=3820757

07/01/2026

Are George Orwell's "Six Rules of Writing" Truly a Good Guide https://buff.ly/hgf733J

If you take writing seriously, then you almost certainly recognize the name George Orwell. Undoubtedly, Orwell is one of the most widely celebrated authors of the 20th century as both a novelist and an essayist. Certainly, two of his most enduring works of fiction are Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, both of which were made into major motion pictures. So, when Phil Yaffe came across a reference to Orwell's six rules of writing, he simply had to search them out to read them. You should, too. But with a certain degree of skepticism.